Artists play the drums at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Happy Chinese New Year celebration at the Pipitea Marae & Function Centre in Wellington, New Zealand, Jan 30, 2018. [Photo/Chinaculture.org]

Qu addressed the opening ceremony, saying that China has become New Zealand's largest trading partner, thanks to the increasingly growing bilateral political trust and closer people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two nations.

Salesa wowed the audience with her "Happy Chinese New Year" greetings in Mandarin. She said that New Zealand boasts over 200 ethnic groups and 160 languages and the Chinese community has become a major ethnic group that adds to the richness of New Zealand society.